The present invention relates to milling machines that are used in road surface repairs. Milling machines are typically utilized to remove a layer or layers of old or defective road surface in preparation for resurfacing. Resurfacing an existing road surface with such defects may result in a perpetuation of prior existing conditions, especially if the road surface is exposed to heavy and/or continuous traffic which often requires the road to be resurfaced again within a short period of time. Milling may also provide a renewable source of aggregate such as recycled asphalt that may be used to resurface milled surfaces.
Typically the milling machines direct milled road fragments towards a conveyer which takes the fragments off the road, however, a significant amount of debris, aggregate, and fragments remain on the milled surface. When using asphalt or other pavement material to resurface a road the milled surface must be substantially clean of any residue material before a new layer can be deposited. Failure to clear the milled surface of such material may result in poor bonding between the new asphalt and the milled surface. Typically a sweeper will come along after the milling machine to remove of the debris, but often this is inefficient and uneconomic.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,139,318 by Jakob et al., which is herein incorporated by reference for all that it contains, discloses a method and apparatus for planning a paved roadway wherein a main frame is drivingly supported by track assemblies and a planer assembly is disposed in cutting engagement with a top portion of the pave roadway to produce a new roadway surface.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,793,730 by Butch, which is herein incorporated by reference for all that it contains, discloses a method and apparatus for renewing the surface of asphaltic paving at low cost and for immediate reuse.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,505,598 by Murray, which is herein incorporated by reference for all that it contains, discloses a modification of a cold milling machine used to remove concrete and asphalt from an existing highway is disclosed, including a milling drum segmented into two or more sections with the drive train for the milling drums passing through the core of the milling drum and supported via a journal or bearing to the outside of the machine.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,733,086 by McSharry et al., which is herein incorporated by reference for all that it contains, discloses a vacuum system mounted on a portable milling machine for extracting material cut by the milling drum of the machine from the surface of a roadway.